My research is driven by the aim to develop novel complex biopharmaceuticals with impact in Human and Animal Health. The basis for my work lies on the use and integration of multidisciplinary technologies such as synthetic biology, evolutionary and bioprocess engineering, and bottom-up systems biology to fasten the generation of the products I’m interested in, particularly virus-like particles (VLPs) as vaccine candidates and viral vectors (e.g. AAVs, Adenovirus, Lentivirus) for gene therapy. With my PhD I have designed and implemented in silico mathematical models for process control and optimization of a human vaccine candidate, namely Rotavirus-VLPs. This work pioneered the area as for the first time a comprehensive, integrative view of the production system was capture in mathematical and thermodynamical equations. This was performed at ITQB-UNL, iBET and FCT-UNL (Portugal) under the supervision of Rui Oliveira and Manuel Carrondo. The scientific quality of the PhD dissertation was recognized as the 2011 best PhD thesis of ITQB-UNL. Following PhD I was geared towards having a deeper understanding of Systems Biology and how one could apply it to bioprocess engineering. To achieve such goal, I moved to Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden); during 3 years, I was a senior researcher at Jens Nielsen lab, developing/acquiring “omics” skills that revealed to be essential for the characterization of the cell factory I was working with. In 2014, I re-joined iBET as a senior scientist, and later that year I was awarded with the FCT Investigator grant. This grant enabled me to play a key role in furthering the progress of biopharmaceutical development at iBET. As senior researcher at iNOVA4Health – Advancing Precision Medicine at iBET (since 2015), Head of the Cell-based Vaccines Development Laboratory (since 2019) and Coordinator of Late-Stage R&D Bioproduction Unit (since 2021), I have been leading initiatives aimed at translating research findings (in both vaccine and gene therapy fields) into tangible solutions. I have actively pursued funding opportunities to support my research activities. As PI or co-PI, I have secured funding (up to 5 M€) from organizations such as the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (Japan), J. Gust. Richert Foundation and ÅForsk (Sweden), and Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal), among others. These projects have not only advanced scientific knowledge but also provided valuable training opportunities for researchers at various stages of their careers. I have been actively involved in mentoring and supervising research students, both at the PhD (12, 7 defended) and MSc (16, 14 defended) levels. Importantly, some of the students who have finished their training programs have embarked on successful careers in academia, either as PhD students (e.g. ITQB NOVA, iBET, FEUP in Portugal) or post-doc (BOKU in Austria) or in industry as research associates and specialists in companies such as Oncastrata, Bayer AG, VWR, Sandoz and uniQure. Furthermore, I have been actively involved in academic activities, including coordinating and lecturing in various Ph.D. and master's courses in Portugal and abroad. These courses cover topics such as bioprocessing engineering principles, and manufacturing and quality process control. I have authored 46 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, 4 book chapters and 1 editorial. Noteworthy is total number of citations (> 1800) and the h-index (17) considering the competitiveness of the scientific area (Engineering and Technology) and my short scientific career. I have presented 34 oral (invited) communications, demonstrating the scientific competences, originality and international recognition of my research. Over the next 5 years I want to consolidate my research career and continue developing bioprocesses for production of novel biopharmaceuticals (i.e. vaccines and viral vectors), thus providing solutions to those who most need.